Surrendering to Us (27 page)

“They make manly candles now.” Sloane seemed offended.

“Well, we’ll see what he wants when he gets here,” I said to be the peacemaker.

“Right.”

“Right.”

Crisis averted. Sloane took the box and said to contact her if we needed anything and then was gone as quickly as she’d blown in.

“What was that all about?” Lucah said, sitting down on the bed, which now had the addition of a few throw pillows Sloane had found somewhere.

“She is being so weird about this Ryder situation,” I said, joining him on the bed.

“I couldn’t believe she suggested he move in with her,” Lucah said, picking up one of the throw pillows and then putting it back.

“Yeah, like that would work out,” I agreed. “It would only end one way and it wouldn’t be pretty. I’d also be prepared for her to be dropping by without announcing herself again. She stocked the fridge while we were gone, and I foresee her cooking a lot, and coming over to borrow things, etc.”

“That should be fun.” Lucah yawned and lay back on the pillows. I snuggled next to him, putting my head on his chest.

“Do you realize this is the longest the two of us have gone since we moved in together without having sex?” I almost rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t lie, I was thinking about it too.

“I think I read somewhere that the average American couple only has sex, like, a few times a week.” His hand moved to my hair.

“But we’re not average. Who wants to be average? I want to be in the ninety-ninth percentile. That’s where all the geniuses are.”

“You mean that’s where the sex addicts are.”

“Okay, maybe that was a bad example. But still.” I waited for him to say something else, but he didn’t.

“Does this mean you want to have sex?” I hoped I was reading his signals right.

“Sunshine, I always want to have sex with you. If there were a way to spend each moment of each day fucking you in every way imaginable, then I would happily sign up. But right at this moment, I’m afraid I would fall asleep on you, and that wouldn’t be very sexy.”

“You probably wouldn’t be the only one.” I yawned and I could feel my eyes closing.

“Yup,” he said, and the next thing I knew we were both passed out on Ryder’s new bed.

I took a quick break the next morning and called Lucah to see how things were going. I made sure that my office door was closed and locked beforehand, though.

“He’s still not very happy, but he said he would take this over rehab.”

“I guess that’s an improvement?”

“I guess.” I heard Ryder talking in the background. “Look, I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Okay. Love you.”

“Love you, too.” He hung up and I wished that I’d gotten to talk to him longer. Or that I could magically transport myself to the apartment. OR, clone myself so I could be in two places at once.

I shook my head at my imaginings. If I could, I was going to sneak away on my lunch break and make sure everything was going okay. I had no doubt that Lucah had everything in hand, but my control freak tendencies would not be suppressed.

There was a knock at my door and I told whomever it was to come in before remembering that the door was locked. I got up to open it and was shocked to find my father standing in front of my office.

“Oh, hi Dad.” I smiled and stepped back so he could come in. “Sorry about the locked door. I was calling to check on Lucah and didn’t want to take the risk that someone would walk in on me.”

He nodded and sat down.

“Understood. That’s actually what I came to talk to you about. He’s been out for three days now. What’s going on?” I’d hoped to put this off until that Sunday when Lucah would come with me to dinner, but it had to be addressed now.

“Okay, so it’s Lucah’s brother, Ryder, that’s actually in trouble. To make a long story short, he overdosed on some pills and ended up in the hospital.” I reiterated that they were prescribed and not illegal and that he hadn’t been trying to kill himself and so on and so forth. Then came the rough part.

“Since he’s trying to get back on his feet and has no money and nowhere to go, he’s going to stay with us for a little while.” I waited for his reaction. I had no idea if it would be good or bad, which was why I had avoided talking to him.

“Are you sure you’re up for that? He doesn’t sound like the most stable fellow.” He wasn’t, but there wasn’t really anything I could do about that.

“It’s the best solution for right now. We have the space and he’s family.” I shrugged. That was the best way to explain it. Lucah’s family was my family now, even if we weren’t married.

“That is a very generous thing you’re doing, Rory. Not many would do that in your situation.” I found that hard to believe. My parents were extremely generous people, and were always giving to one charity or another, and Mom volunteered so much it was almost her full-time job.

“He’s family,” I repeated. That was it. The end. Ryder was staying.

Dad finally smiled and came over to give me a hug.

“I’m so honored to be able to call myself your father, Aurora.” He kissed the top of my head like he did when I was young and got a good report card. “And if you need anything, anything at all, please let me or your mother know. You know we would be more than happy to help in any way we can.” I could just picture it. Mom would be worse than Sloane.

“I’m honored to be able to call myself your daughter, Walter.” He chuckled and then left, stopping to say hello to Lilia on his way back to his office.

I considered, for a moment, asking him if he knew of any jobs for Ryder, but I didn’t think the kinds of jobs Dad would know about would be good for Ryder. Lucah might be a bad boy who was able to work it in the boardroom, but I just couldn’t see Ryder sitting at a desk in a suit. Maybe in a music store or a hip coffeehouse. But I knew he’d already gotten fired from places like that, so the chances of finding somewhere he hadn’t already gotten fired from were pretty slim, even in a city this size. Plus, the economy was so bad that people with Masters degrees were having trouble finding employment.

But Lucah would find a way to make it work. I had complete and total faith in him, even if I didn’t have it for Ryder. Yet.

“Knock, knock,” I said, opening the door slowly and making sure I made plenty of noise jingling my keys. “I thought I would come and see how things were going.”

“Hey, Sunshine!” Lucah said, coming out of the room formerly known as the guest room and now was Ryder’s room. “What are you doing here?”

“I thought I would come and see how everything was going. So, how’s it going?” I peered toward the room, but Lucah had closed the door.

“He’s sleeping. The new meds they’ve given him are going to take a little while to adjust to. I also think he went to sleep so he wouldn’t have to talk to me. He’s got his first therapy session tomorrow.” Oh, that should be fun.

“But anyway, how are you? How’s work? Is it weird that I miss it?” He put his arms around my waist.

“Not weird at all. I’d miss it too. Work is good. Dad asked if he could do anything to help, by the way. I gave him the abbreviated version and he was surprisingly okay with Ryder moving in.”

“Really?”

“Uh huh.” He leaned down and gave me a kiss and then licked my top lip. He had the metal tongue bar in again. Mmmm . . .

“I’m not tired anymore,” he said, withdrawing his mouth from mine only lick a spot behind my ear that made me quiver in every place that mattered.

“Lucah, I can’t. Ryder is right there.” He pulled back to look at me.

“You do realize that we had sex in the office with people right next door.” That was different, but it was true that we hadn’t had sex in a few days and I was definitely missing it in my life.

Lucah smiled because he saw my face change.

“Just once. Or twice if you can rush it. I have to get back to work.” We ran to the bedroom and slammed the door and then ripped off each other’s clothes.

“Shhh,” I said as Lucah took me and tossed me on the bed. “Lock the door. If he walked in on us, I would die of embarrassment.” Lucah locked the door and then dived on top of me. Before I could say another word, he was straddling me and asking me if I wanted him inside me.

“Fuck yes.” I’d been ready for days and so wet that when he thrust into me, it was smooth and he went deep. Before I could even get used to him being inside me, he pulled nearly all the way out and plunged in again.

“Do you want more?” he said, as if he was going to stop if I didn’t say yes. In answer I dug my fingers into his back and wrapped my legs around him and thrust my hips upward as much as I could.

“That’s my girl,” he said before setting a frenzied pace that I could barely keep up with. It was hard and it was fast and before I knew it, he was arching above me.

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t hold out any longer,” he panted above me. “But if you give me a few minutes, I’ll be ready again.” We kissed while we waited. People always seemed to underestimate the eroticism of kissing. Especially if your boyfriend had a tongue bar. Within just a few minutes, I could feel him getting hard inside me. Lucah flipped us so I was on top.

This time I was able to set a slower pace and maneuver myself so all the right spots were getting hit, and within minutes I was screaming his name. He held on a little longer, but it was another quickie.

I fell against him, and we both rolled so we were on our sides.

“That was so much better than eating a salad,” I said, kissing his shoulder. “Or even a burger. Although I am hungry now.”

“I can make you something quick. No time for a burger though.” He smiled and got up, but only to carry me to the bathroom so I could clean myself up. I nearly had a panic attack when we left the bedroom because I had a vision of Ryder sitting in the living room, but he was still in his room, and the door was still shut.

I put my hair up and got in the shower for a quick rinse and Lucah went back to put clothes on and hopefully make me something to eat.

I put my robe on, and tied it extra tight before walking into the kitchen.

“Grilled cheese and some soup okay?” He had the stove going and it made me want to take him back to bed again.

“You are the perfect man,” I said, hugging him from behind.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” A voice said that made me clench onto Lucah like a human shield.

“Hello, Ryder,” Lucah said in a warning tone. I pressed myself into his back so Ryder wouldn’t see my red face. The robe covered everything, but it was still weird for this guy I barely knew to be seeing me so casual.

“What are you making?” I finally turned around. There he stood, wearing only a ripped tank and a pair of boxers that were stretched and hung low on his hips.

“I’ll make you something after Rory goes back to work. What would you like?”

“Christ, you don’t have to do that. I can make a fucking sandwich.” He pulled up his shirt and scratched his stomach and then grinned at me and his eyes traveled up and down the robe, and I pulled it tighter around my neck.

“Little afternoon delight?”

“Ryder!” Lucah said, and I thought he was going to smack him with the spatula.

“Chill the fuck out,” he said, going to sit on the couch and turning on the television.

“God, give me strength,” Lucah said, looking at the ceiling.

Ryder snorted.

“It’s part of the Serenity Prayer,” Lucah said to me.

“Yeah, I know.” He flipped my grilled cheese over and I decided that I was going to get dressed. The tension between Ryder and Lucah was filling the room, and it made me uncomfortable.

I dashed back to the bedroom and picked up my clothes from where I’d thrown them on the floor, making sure I locked the door when I changed.

I rushed through my soup and grilled cheese and gave Lucah a quick kiss goodbye before heading back to work. Ryder just kept watching the television. I was beginning to sense that he didn’t like me. Or he had some sort of problem with me. I knew if I asked Lucah about it, he would either say I was being paranoid, or, more likely, he would talk to Ryder about it, and that I couldn’t have. I couldn’t cause a rift (or any more of one) between the brothers. I was going to go along until this temporary situation was over and then Lucah and I could resume our lives, and hopefully, be a lot happier because Ryder would be on his feet.